D319 AWS Cloud Architecture is the Western Governors University course on designing cloud environments on Amazon Web Services that stay up, scale well, stay secure and do not waste money.
WGU's program guide for the B.S. Cloud Computing (AWS track) lists it at three competency units, late in the standard path. Later AWS courses list Cloud Applications and AWS Cloud Architecture as prerequisites, so this course is the design core of the track.
The challenge is trade-offs. Almost every requirement can be met several ways, and the right design depends on which of resilience, performance, security and cost the scenario values most.
Course at a Glance
| Item | Details |
|---|---|
| University | Western Governors University (WGU) |
| Course code | D319 |
| Level | Undergraduate |
| Competency units | 3 |
| Program | B.S. Cloud Computing, AWS track |
| Typical work | Designing AWS architectures for given workloads and justifying choices |
What D319 Covers
The four competencies mirror the four design areas AWS uses for its Solutions Architect Associate exam, although WGU's guide does not name a certification for this course:
| Competency (summarized) | Typical topics |
|---|---|
| Design control measures for resilient architectures | Multi-AZ deployment, backups, decoupling with queues |
| Design high-performing, scalable architectures | Auto Scaling, load balancing, caching, choosing compute and storage |
| Design security policies and access | IAM policies and roles, least privilege, encryption, network controls |
| Design cost-optimized storage, database and network architectures | Storage classes, purchase options, right-sizing, data transfer costs |
Key Concepts Explained
Designing for Failure
AWS architecture assumes components fail. Spreading instances across Availability Zones, putting a load balancer in front and storing state outside the instances means one failure does not stop the service.
Example: A web application runs on two EC2 instances in one Availability Zone with its database on one of them. A better design places an Auto Scaling group across two zones behind an Application Load Balancer, moves the database to Amazon RDS with Multi-AZ, and keeps uploaded files in Amazon S3. Losing a zone no longer takes the site down.
Least Privilege with IAM
Grant only the permissions a user or service needs, using roles for applications instead of stored access keys. Policies should name specific actions and resources rather than wildcards.
Cost Optimization
Match storage class to access pattern, buy committed capacity for steady workloads and use Auto Scaling for variable ones.
Example: Log files are read often for 30 days and rarely afterwards. An S3 lifecycle rule moves them to an infrequent-access class after 30 days and to an archive class after 90, cutting storage cost without deleting anything.
Typical Assignments and How to Approach Them
| Task element | What it tests | How to approach it |
|---|---|---|
| Architecture diagram | Design clarity | Show zones, tiers, data flow and security boundaries |
| Resilience justification | Failure planning | Explain what happens when each component fails |
| Security design | Access control | List roles, policies and encryption choices |
| Cost analysis | Optimization | Compare options and explain the saving and trade-off |
Check your course page for the exact assessment format and rubric, and follow its headings.
Core AWS Building Blocks
Most architecture scenarios use a small set of services. Know what each does and when to choose it:
| Area | Services | Choose when |
|---|---|---|
| Compute | EC2, Lambda, containers | Full control (EC2) or event-driven code with no servers (Lambda) |
| Storage | S3, EBS, EFS | Objects, block disks for one instance, or shared files |
| Database | RDS, Aurora, DynamoDB | Relational with SQL, or key-value at large scale |
| Networking | VPC, load balancers, CloudFront | Isolation, traffic distribution, content delivery |
| Decoupling | SQS, SNS | Absorbing spikes and separating components |
In your justification, name the requirement each service meets. A design that lists services without that link reads as guesswork.
Where Students Get Stuck
- Single points of failure. Check every tier for a component whose failure stops the service.
- Over-engineering. Multi-region designs can break a cost requirement; match the design to the stated need.
- Vague security. Name roles, policies and where encryption applies.
- Unexplained choices. Each service in the design should map to a requirement.
Study Tips for D319
- Use the AWS Well-Architected Framework pillars as a checklist for every design.
- Build a small multi-AZ web app in the free tier and delete it afterwards.
- Keep a requirement-to-service table for each practice scenario.
- Review your Cloud Applications notes on recovery objectives and scaling.
How We Help with D319
Send the task instructions, rubric, scenario and your draft design. A tutor with AWS experience can explain services and trade-offs, review your design against the four competency areas, or help you write clear justifications.
GradeEssays is independent of Western Governors University and Amazon Web Services. Our help is tutoring, model examples and review, so the design you submit is your own under WGU's academic integrity policy; we never log in to your course or cloud accounts. Revisions within the scope of your original request are free.
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Share the D319 scenario, requirements and your draft design. An AWS tutor explains the trade-offs so you can refine your own work.
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Frequently Asked Questions
WGU's AWS track program guide lists it at three competency units.
WGU's guide does not name one, but its four competencies match the design areas of the AWS Certified Solutions Architect Associate exam.
The AWS track places Cloud Applications earlier on the standard path; review its scaling and recovery topics first.
Hands-on practice helps a great deal. Use the free tier carefully and delete resources to avoid charges.
AWS's set of design pillars (including reliability, performance efficiency, security and cost optimization) used to review architectures.
No. We explain, review and model so you can produce your own design.